Howden invites Europe’s risk managers to bring complex risks to the table

David Howden, CEO of fast-growing UK-based international broking and MGA group Howden, has called on Europe’s risk managers to come to his company with their complex risk problems, such as supply chain and logistics, to sit down and work out solutions. As the group reported an impressive set of annual figures for the year ended 30 September 2021, Howden told Commercial Risk Europe that people often think insurance is not the solution to difficult and emerging risks, because no traditional product is available. But he said emerging risk transfer areas such as parametric solutions can offer some interesting answers and vowed that the group would be stepping up its efforts to work with customers in such areas across Europe and worldwide. Howden said the group has invested in its captive and reinsurance capabilities in recent times, and is working with more and more large corporates across Europe to figure out how to transfer their risks to the capital markets via reinsurance, and is increasingly working with captives. “Parametric could be the answer for supply chain risks. One challenge is what triggers the loss. We very successfully filled a disaster relief gap via a volcano cat bond for the Danish Red Cross using a parametric solution, which was something that could not be done ten years ago. This could be the same for supply chain. Imagine a trigger such as X% of Asian chip manufacturers are shut down and this leads to a payment of X to a European customer. We will be pushing hard in this area,” said Howden. He also promised the European risk management community that the group would continue to expand from its base in 16 countries, with further senior hires and bolt-on acquisitions. “We very much have a European focus, including the UK, and have a unique position in Europe. We are very excited about the market dynamics in continental Europe and already have a very strong position with large corporates in Europe,” said Howden. Apart from supply chain and logistics, he invited Europe’s risk and insurance managers to reach out to their Howden partners to seek out solutions for climate change, energy transition risk and cyber. He pointed out that while the volume of ransomware attacks continues to spiral upwards, the pricing and availability of cyber cover remains very challenging for customers. “Companies are struggling to find capacity on cyber, so we are really focusing on that,” he said. The most impressive element of Howden’s full-year results was record organic growth of some 19%. This comes on top of some major acquisitions for the group that also drove strong premium growth for both the broking and MGA businesses. The group saw a 48% increase in revenue to £1.15bn last year. Howden also managed a 50% increase in EBITDA to £335m, against £223m the year before. Beyond several acquisitions, the group also made many senior hires last year. Nearly 1,500 people joined Howden globally during 2021, taking the total number of employees to 10,500. The number of employee shareholders has risen to 2,000. CEO Howden said: “This financial year has been characterised by signing some of the largest and most transformational acquisitions in our history: Align Financial Holdings in the US cemented DUAL’s position as the only MGA group operating across 19 countries with a diverse product spread and over $2bn GWP. “From early days we were committed to continental Europe, opening our first office in Spain just five years after we launched the group. Today, we have offices in 16 countries and act for 32% of the CAC, 37% of the DAX and 63% of the Eurostoxx, and this year we have deepened our foundations with startup operations, strategic acquisitions and by attracting significant talent right across the region. We are well positioned to replicate our leading position in the UK across continental Europe, making us the strongest European broker,” he added.

Howden invites Europe’s risk managers to bring complex risks to the table

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